London -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Rupert Murdoch is the last of a dying breed : An old-fashioned press baron with ink running through his veins , a hefty checkbook , and a hunger for the next big story .

Now aged 83 , he has spent the past half century turning a business that began with one local Australian newspaper into a massive multimedia empire which spans the globe and includes TV , online , film and print interests .

The phone-hacking scandal forced him to close the British tabloid that was his pride and joy , News of the World , and for a time even appeared to jeopardize his global empire , valued by Forbes at $ 9.4 billion . It led the powerful businessman to submit himself for questioning by British politicians , where he declared : `` This is the most humble day of my life . ''

But Murdoch bounced back from the crisis , and he remains at the helm of his global empire . In 2013 , News International , the UK subsidiary of Murdoch 's News Corp. was rebranded News UK , while News Corp. itself split into two separate entities . News Corp. is now focused on publishing while 21st Century Fox encompasses television and film assets .

This month , Forbes estimated the net worth of Murdoch and his family at $ 14.5 billion , adding that stocks from the two companies had boosted his worth by more than $ 2 billion in the past year .

The same year , Murdoch filed for divorce from his third wife , Wendi Deng .

Deng had grabbed headlines when she lunged to defend her husband from a pie-throwing intruder at a 2011 parliamentary hearing in London , earning her the sobriquet `` tiger wife . '' But speculation about the state of the couple 's relationship had swirled for months before Murdoch 's spokesman confirmed the divorce .

One tweet fittingly declared that Murdoch had gone `` from tabloid boss to tabloid prey . ''

The media mogul was kept on the edge of the limelight from October 2013 , when former employees went on trial for alleged phone hacking .

The newspaper business is in Murdoch 's blood . Born in Melbourne , Australia , in 1931 , he was one of four children -- the only son -- of a celebrated journalist and his debutante-turned-philanthropist wife .

His father , Keith Murdoch , was a reporter who exposed the horrific conditions experienced by Anzac troops fighting at Gallipoli in World War I , and went on to manage a large newspaper company .

`` I was raised in a newspaper family by a father who believed that the newspaper was among the most important instruments of human freedom , '' Murdoch declared in his 2008 Boyer Lectures .

His mother , Elisabeth , was inspired to devote her life to `` good works '' as a schoolgirl . At the time of her death in 2012 , aged 103 , she remained a supporter of more than 100 charities , and enjoyed an almost regal status in Australia .

Murdoch was studying at Oxford when his father died in 1952 .

Mentored -- like his father -- by press baron Lord Beaverbrook , he learned his trade as a reporter in Birmingham , England and as a Â # 10-a-week sub-editor at Beaverbrook 's Daily Express in London before returning home to take charge of the family business .

`` I found myself a newspaper proprietor at the age of 22 , '' Murdoch said in 2008 . `` I was so young and so new to the business that when I pulled my car into the lot on my first day , the garage attendant admonished me , ` Hey sonny , you ca n't park here . ' ''

Despite his youth , the new boss of the Adelaide News took to the job like a duck to water , quickly getting embroiled in a newspaper war -- the first of many -- with local rival the Adelaide Advertiser .

`` It cost a great deal , '' he said . `` But it taught me that with good editors and a loyal readership , you can challenge better-heeled and more established rivals -- and succeed . ''

He was soon looking to expand the company : After buying up other local papers across the country , in 1964 , he set up Australia 's first national newspaper , The Australian , and in 1969 , moved overseas to purchase his first UK paper , News of the World , shortly followed by The Sun .

The sensationalism and sex on the pages of some of his papers provoked shock and anger among his competitors on Fleet Street , and earned Murdoch a number of less than complimentary nicknames .

As Ian Hislop , editor of British satirical magazine Private Eye , told CNN : '' -LSB- We have -RSB- referred to Murdoch as the Dirty Digger throughout his long career , and it 's not an accident ; he does dig up dirt and then puts it in papers and sells it . ''

His hunger for the latest scoops -- and his willingness to pay for them -- have ensured massive sales figures , but have also caused controversy over the years , from Christine Keeler 's kiss-and-tell over the Profumo scandal , to the `` Hitler Diaries '' -LRB- later revealed to be fakes -RRB- to O.J. Simpson 's `` If I Did It '' book .

That desire to be first with the big news has led some to question his methods -- even before the phone-hacking scandal .

`` He ran close to what might be considered journalistic ethics , '' said Lou Colasuonno , former editor-in-chief of the New York Post , which Murdoch took over in 1976 .

`` I 'm not saying he broke the law , I 'm not saying he did anything illegal , but I am saying he 's aggressive in getting stories . ''

Print unions

That aggression was evident in the mid-1980s when Murdoch , by then the owner of London 's Times and Sunday Times papers , broke the stranglehold of the unions on the country 's print industry .

After months of plotting , the media titan switched his operations from Fleet Street to Wapping , in the east end of London , and from hot metal to computerized systems overnight , forcing hundreds of printers out of work .

`` He was the man who tamed the print unions so that newspapers became incredibly profitable , '' said Martin Dunn , former deputy editor of the Sun and News of the World .

Those profits were plowed into Murdoch 's growing Fox network of TV and film interests in the United States , helping to create the corporate behemoth that is News Corp. , which now also owns the influential Wall Street Journal , America 's largest circulation daily .

The thrice-married father-of-six Murdoch has long been at the center of a frenzied succession debate -- something the current scandal only complicates . His oldest four children -- daughters Prudence and Elisabeth , and sons Lachlan and James -- all have a say in the running of the company .

His youngest daughters Grace -LRB- born 2001 -RRB- and Chloe -LRB- born 2003 -RRB- , with Wendi Deng , are both said to have a financial share in News Corp. .

Famously hands-on , Murdoch has never shied away from getting stuck in -- whether tracking down a story , or dictating the political direction of his papers .

`` If I see things in the paper which I think are incorrect , I 'll certainly point it out and say ` so-and-so made a mistake here , ' or ` this was n't as good a report as was in the opposition newspapers , ' '' he told the makers of BBC documentary `` Who 's Afraid of Rupert Murdoch ? '' in 1981 . `` I ... have the right to insist on excellence . ''

On the same program , Robert Spitzler , former managing editor of the New York Post said Murdoch 's role went beyond commenting and suggesting .

`` Rupert wrote headlines , Rupert shaped stories , Rupert dictated the leads of stories , '' he said . `` Rupert was everywhere . ''

In a 1968 television interview , Murdoch admitted that he enjoyed the power his position gave him , but -- in remarks that now seem more relevant than ever -- insisted : `` We have more responsibility than power , I think .

`` A newspaper can create great controversies , stir up arguments within the community ... can throw light on injustices , just as it can do the opposite , can hide things and be a great power for evil . ''

But even those who may be considered his enemies recognize Murdoch 's business acumen .

`` He 's a dealmaker , he 's a brilliant businessman , '' Michael White , of the UK 's Guardian newspaper , which broke the hacking story , told CNN . `` He 's a great strategic mind . ''

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Rupert Murdoch took charge of his first newspaper in Australia at the age of 22

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He spent the next 50 years expanding into TV , press , internet , sport , and movies

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Forbes estimates the 83-year-old media mogul and his family 's wealth at $ 14.5 billion